Resealable pack

ABSTRACT

A pack has a body ( 11 ) defining a cavity for receiving articles such as wet wipes. The body ( 11 ) is provided with a slit ( 13 ) which is non-rectilinear and which has first and second ends, for example V-shaped. A sealing member ( 15 ) covers the slit and is resealably adhered to the body on both sides of the slit, whereby to provide a seal.

This invention relates to a resealable pack. It is particularly intendedfor use in the packaging of wet wipes, but it is to be understood thatthe invention is also applicable to the packaging of other articles.

As is well known, wet wipes are articles in the form of small sheetswhich are impregnated with a skin-cleansing liquid and which areintended to be disposed of after a single use. Wet wipes are sometimespackaged individually, in which case the packaging is thrown away afterit has been opened and the wet wipe removed therefrom. However it isalso known to produce a pack containing a plurality of wet wipes. Inthat case, the pack must be provided with a resealable opening, sincethe skin-cleansing liquid with which the wipes are impregnatedevaporates readily, and the wipes will therefore dry out unless the packcan be properly resealed after each wipe is removed.

In conventional wet wipes packs, the tape used for sealing and resealingthe opening represents a substantial portion of the cost of the product.Furthermore, to prevent the cost of the tape becoming excessive it isusual to provide only a relatively small opening in the pack, so thatthe amount of tape required is reduced, and this makes it difficult fora user to remove wet wipes from the pack and may even result in theirbreaking during the course of removal. It is an object of the presentinvention to provide a pack in which the amount of material required toeffect resealing is reduced in relation to the size of opening withwhich the pack is provided. By virtue of this it is feasible to increasethe size of the opening, or reduce the cost of the material required forsealing, or both.

According to the present invention there is provided a pack having abody portion defining an article-receiving cavity, the body portionbeing provided with a slit which is non-rectilinear and which has firstand second ends; and a sealing member which covers the slit and isresealably adhered to the body portion on both sides of the slit,whereby to provide a seal, the sealing member having a pair of sideedges, one on either side of the slit, both of which side edges followgenerally the direction of the slit.

It is to be understood that the term “slit” does not necessarily implythat the material concerned begins in non-slitted form and then has aslit formed therein by a slitting process, though that would normally bethe case. Further, it is to be understood that the term “slit” isintended to encompass not only openings which have a zero or very smallwidth, and which would normally be described as slits, but also openingshaving a significant width, for example up to several mm, or even more,and which might more usually be described as slots.

Preferably, the said side edges are substantially parallel to oneanother and to the direction of the slit. In a preferred embodiment ofthe invention the slit is generally V-shaped, and the sealing member iscorrespondingly generally V-shaped. The apex angle of the “V” ispreferably from 40° and 100°, most preferably about 50°. However, othershapes of slit and tab may be used instead. Thus, in an alternativeembodiment the slit can be curved, for example arcuate, and may, forexample, semicircular, and the sealing member may be correspondinglyshaped.

As will become apparent from the following description of the embodimentillustrated in the accompanying drawings, the pack of the presentinvention is more economical than conventional resealable packs in termsof the amount of material required for the sealing member. The inventionwill now be further described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a known pack for wet wipes,the pack being in its sealed condition;

FIG. 2 is a similar view of a pack according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows the pack of FIG. 2 in its opened condition; and

FIG. 4 shows part of a strip of material for use in the manufacture ofthe sealing members, showing how a plurality of the members can be cuttherefrom.

The known wet wipes pack shown in FIG. 1 comprises a body 1 of generallyparallelepiped form formed of a plastics material, for example apolyethylene film, a polypropylene film or a laminate consisting of, forexample, polyethylene and polypropylene layers, optionally with a layerof paper between them. The body is formed of a single sheet of plasticsmaterial sealed at its opposite ends by end seams 2, and also having alongitudinal seam on the reverse side (not visible in FIG. 1). Anelongate opening 3 is defined in the top face of the body portion. Theopening is of generally rectangular form, but the ends 4 thereof arerounded so as to avoid forming sharp corners which might be unhelpful asregards the removal of articles from within the body.

The opening 3 is covered by a sealing member 5 which is resealablysecured to the adjacent face of the body 1 by means of an adhesive, forexample an acrylic-based or rubber-based adhesive. Sealing is providedover the whole of the area where the sealing member 5 overlies the body1, except for a tab 6 at one end of the sealing member 5. This providesa location where the user can grasp the sealing member. It will be seenthat even for quite a small opening 3 it is necessary to provide acomparatively large sealing member 5, since the latter must extendbeyond the former on all sides if it is to provide the requisite seal.The material of the sealing member 5, i.e. the substrate to which theadhesive is applied, may, for example, be a polypropylene film, or alaminate of paper/polypropylene, paper/polyethylene, orpolyethylene/polypropylene. Where a two-layer laminate is used whichincludes paper, the adhesive is advantageously applied to the paper.

Wet wipes or other articles are held within the cavity defined by thebody 1. When a user desires to remove a wet wipe, he grasps the tab 6and pulls the sealing member away from the adjacent face of the bodyportion 1 so as to expose the aperture 3, and then removes a wet wipethrough the aperture. Means (not shown) may be provided to prevent thesealing member 5 from being completely removed from the body 1, so thatit remains attached to it at all times at the end of the sealing memberremote from the tab 6. After the user has removed a wet wipe he thenbrings the sealing member back to the position shown in FIG. 1 so as toreseal the opening 3.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in its closed position in FIG.2. As in the case of the known pack shown in FIG. 1, this comprises abody, here denoted by reference numeral 11, which is sealed by end seals12 and a longitudinal seal (not shown). In this case, however, insteadof the aperture 3 there is a generally V-shaped slit 13. This has firstand second ends 14 which, as shown in FIG. 2, are arcuate (for examplesemicircular) with the open sides of the arcs facing back towards theapex of the V.

A generally V-shaped sealing member 15 covers the whole of the length ofthe slit 13 and is resealably connected by an adhesive to the body 11 onboth sides of the slit. Thus, in the position shown in FIG. 2 the slitis completely sealed by the sealing member 15. The latter is adhered tothe body 11 over substantially the whole of its surface, except that atab 16 is provided at the apex of the V, where the sealing member 15 isnot adhered to the body. This serves the same purpose as the tab 6 inFIG. 1. The sealing member 15 has side edges 15 a and 15 b which atleast follow generally the direction of the slit 13, and are preferablysubstantially parallel to one another and to the slit.

When the user desires to remove a wet wipe from the pack he grasps thetab 16 and uses it to pull the sealing member 15 upwardly, starting atthe apex of the V. The effect of this is that the portion of the sealingmember 15 on the outside of the V is pulled away from that part of thebody 11 to which it was previously adhered, but the portion of thesealing member on the inside of the V remains adhered to the body. Thearcuate portions 14 are provided as a precaution to reduce the risk thatcontinued pulling on the tab beyond the stage indicated in FIG. 3 willcause the material of the body 11 to tear. In practice, however, therisk of this is slight and the arcuate portions 14 can generally beomitted.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the opening process just described exposes alarge V-shaped opening 17 through which a wet wipe can easily bewithdrawn. After this has been done the sealing member 15 is lowered tothe position shown in FIG. 2 and the pack is resealed.

In relation to the size of opening which it provides, the sealing member15 can be formed of relatively little material. This is illustrated inFIG. 4, which shows a strip 20 of material suitable for forming sealingmembers 15. This can be used to provide a plurality of sealing members15 by severing it along the V-shaped lines 21. This means that there isno wastage of material at all, except at the very ends of the strip 20,and that wastage can be made insignificant by using a sufficiently longstrip. It is not necessary to trim the sealing members 15 in any way.This contrasts with sealing members of the type indicated by referencenumeral 5 in FIG. 1, where the sealing member is large in relation tothe opening available for removal of a wet wipe, and where, furthermore,the shape of the sealing member is such that wastage of the sheet fromwhich it is cut is inevitable.

Preferably, the tape is coated with adhesive before the tape is severedinto individual sealing members, leaving adhesive-free zones to form thetabs 16.

As already mentioned, the sealing member used in the invention can havea shape other than V-shaped, and one possibility is to use a memberwhich is. arcuate, for example semicircular.

I claim:
 1. A pack having a body portion defining an article-receivingcavity, the body portion being provided with a slit having up to a verysmall width, said slit being non-rectilinear and having first and secondends; and a sealing member which covers the slit and is resealablyadhered to the body portion on both sides of the slit, the sealingmember having a pair of side edges, one on either side of the slit, bothof which side edges substantially follow the direction of the slit.
 2. Apack according to claim 1, wherein the body portion is made of aflexible sheet plastics material.
 3. A pack according to claim 1,wherein the sealing member is made of a flexible sheet plasticsmaterial.
 4. A pack according to claim 1, wherein the sealing member hasa first end at which it is provided with a tab which is not sealed tothe body portion and which is grasped by a user.
 5. A pack according toclaim 1, wherein the slit is substantially V-shaped.
 6. A pack accordingto claim 5, wherein the apex angle of the “V” is from 40° to 100°.
 7. Apack according to claim 6, wherein the said angle is about 50°.
 8. Apack according to claim 1, wherein the said side edges are substantiallyparallel to one another.
 9. A pack according to claim 8, wherein thesaid side edges are substantially parallel to the direction of the slit.10. A pack according to claim 1, wherein the article-receiving cavitycontains a plurality of wet wipes.
 11. A pack according to claim 1,wherein said slit has substantially zero width.